Environmental consultants’ insurance

Why do environmental consultants need professional indemnity insurance?

If environmental awareness is your clients’ concern, risk awareness is yours.

That might sound a bit dramatic but it’s a fact that professionals advising clients are bound by their expertise. Businesses needing guidance on how to meet their environmental obligations want you to tell them what’s what, while avoiding the consequences of not doing so.

A shortcoming here means consequences for you too. Questions are asked, fingers are pointed, allegations are made and solicitors are appointed. Like it or not, mistakes happen every day and you need to know how to deal with one.

Environmental consultants’ insurance is the first step. If things go wrong, your policy pays to fight your corner (whether you’re at fault or not) and picks up the tab if you have to compensate your client.

Having it means you’re not distracted from running your business. Or spending valuable time and money defending yourself. Or worrying about your reputation going down the drain.

How much professional indemnity insurance do I need?

This depends solely on what your business does.

There’s no right or wrong answer because every business is different. Our best advice is: be pessimistic and buy as much as you can afford.

In fact, assuming the worst will happen is a good place to start. If you do make a mistake, how expensive will it be to fix? Also think about whether you work on commercial or government contracts, and consider exactly what it is you do for them. Offering advice on how to tackle legislation, for example, is less risky than doing land contamination surveys.

Always bear in mind that you can’t have too much cover. Your legal defence can cost many tens of thousands of pounds - and that’s before the compensation bill from your client arrives.

It’s a tricky one to get right. Have a read of this guide or call us if you need more help.

What does professional indemnity insurance cover?

Negligence claims and allegations made against you by clients and third parties, because of mistakes you’ve made and things you’ve failed to do.

Specifically (but depending on the policy wording):

• Defamation
• Intellectual property infringement
• Loss of documents or data
• Negligent misrepresentation or misstatement
• Employee dishonesty
• Virus transmission
• Breach of confidentiality
• Failure of third-party equipment

But that’s not all. Some professional indemnity policies can fix a mistake before your client is even aware of it, thereby preventing a claim in the first place.

Clever stuff.

Do I need public liability insurance?

We usually recommend it if you leave your office on business or have clients (or anyone else for that matter) visiting you.

Which, odds on, you do.

Environmental consultants’ public liability insurance helps if your business is accused of damaging property or injuring a person. It pays to defend you, pays to fix what’s wrong, and pays damages to whoever’s claiming if needs be.

What else do I need?

Employers’ liability insurance covers your business if an employee sues it for damages. Claims are usually because they’ve suffered injuries and illnesses as a consequence of working for you. It’s a legal requirement for UK businesses with employees.

Office and property insurance covers the things in your office (furniture, plants, fixed IT equipment etc) and portable insurance covers gadgets and technical equipment away from the office (laptops, tablets, projectors etc). If you’re not sure it’s worth insuring, add it all up - it’s probably worth more than you think.

Business interruption insurance means you can still work when your office is out of action. Be it flood, fire or flea infestation, you’re covered for the costs of setting up elsewhere and for any lost revenue in that time.

Directors’ and officers’ insurance covers your company bosses. Anyone from regulators to shareholders to competitors can accuse you of not running a business with due care. Worse, directors are personally liable for their actions. The good thing is this insurance covers your defence costs and any compensation you have to pay. So you can put away your chequebook.

Why should I buy my insurance from you?

Glad you asked.

The simple answer is: we know what we’re doing. Professional insurance is all we do so we know what you need, even if you don’t.

We also know that buying insurance can be, well, a bit of a pain. So we make sure getting yours is quick and hassle-free.

We do all that while treating you like a human being, too. You won’t find a call centre here. Or a phone menu. And we’ve banned nonsense insurance jargon.

Anything else? Well, there’s the great stuff you get, such as an ‘I’m insured!’ badge for your website - perfect for the professional professional.

Also, we’ll give you money each time you recommend us.

If you’re after a second opinion, have a look at our customers’ feedback. They’re the ones you should really listen to.